Where was the woman's corner in the Russian house, what happened there and why men were not allowed to enter there

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is simply impossible to imagine an old Russian hut without a stove. But not many people know that behind each stove there was a so-called woman's corner. It was an exclusively female place, where men had no right to enter. And for violation of this rule, there could be very serious consequences. Read why there were no male cooks in Russia, how the furnace evil could punish a peasant and what a woman's kut is.

The best cooks are men, but not in old Russia, or why it was a shame to approach the stove

In Russia, male and female work was clearly divided. It was impossible to imagine a woman doing carpentry. The man, in turn, never cooked food. Today, when men are rightfully recognized as the best chefs in the world, it looks rather strange, but nevertheless, only women were baked and cooked in the oven for the whole family. If you turn to "Domostroi", then you can find instructions on sifting flour, kneading dough, cooking various dishes.

It is wonderful that there is, where to draw knowledge from. However, all this was intended exclusively for women, but not for men. It was believed that males should not be engaged in such matters, it is a shame. They approached the stove on rare occasions, for example, during ceremonies. At the same time, they did not prepare food, but only imitated the process. For example, there was a wedding ceremony called "Karavaynik", during which a young bachelor had to put a wedding loaf in the oven. This was a guarantee that in the future the young couple will have many children and they will all be healthy.

Oven scum that punishes male offenders

Men disliked coming up to the stove, not only because it was considered embarrassing. There was one more reason - the oven was a symbol of a kind of bridge between the world of the dead and the living, and also, according to folk legends, various evil spirits could hide in it. For example, a witch flew out through the chimney into the street to take a walk and make a fool. The soul of the deceased left the house in the same way. And vice versa, from outside through the same pipe a devil could crawl into the hut or even a serious illness. Who could have dreamed of such a situation? To beg the evil spirits to leave the house, they talked to her through a pipe. They said that Pechaya or Domovikha could settle in the oven. Her task was to protect the borders of the world of women and punish men who had the imprudence to violate the ban and approach the stove.

Women could make friends with Domovikha. Sometimes she was presented as a small, plump old woman who helped with housework, but exceptionally good, zealous housewives. She could clean, and shake the children, and cook something. But the sluts could not count on her favor. On the contrary, she could take revenge on them for sloppiness, for example, ruining the cooking.

Babi kut and male corner as a symbol of dual faith

In the layout of the Russian hut, one can observe a kind of dual faith. If we draw an analogy with the holidays, then people often celebrate Christian Easter and at the same time happily eat pancakes during the Maslenitsa festivities, and this is a pagan holiday. The so-called red corner existed (and still exists) in the huts. This is the most honorable place in the house where the head of the family, a man, is accommodated. The red corner is also called the large, senior, front. It was in it that icons were hung, and they were also called God or saint. The antipode of the male corner was the woman's kut, which was also called the stove corner, middle, warmth, shomysha. It was located between the mouth of the furnace and the opposite wall where the women worked.

In the woman's kut there was a shop with dishes, overseers (a shelf for dishes, plates, cups, spoons, knives, forks), hand millstones. The stove was the border between male and female corners. At the same time, it seemed to divide the Orthodox and pagan worlds. Men tried not to approach the stove, because it was a symbol of pagan impurity, the female world. The popular consciousness perceived the corners in a kind of conflict, that is, as the opposition of light and dark, dirty and clean, holy and vicious.

The male corner was to the right of the entrance. He could be recognized by a wide bench, which was fenced with boards on both sides. They had the shape of a horse's head, hence the name "konik". Under the benches were kept tools that men used in repairs and other purely male work. In their corner, men were fixing shoes and utensils, making baskets and other wickerwork. Guests who stopped by for a short while were allowed to sit on the bench in the men's corner. Here the men rested and slept.

Giving birth is not a man's business: oven and women in labor

The woman and the stove in Russia were closely related. As for folklore, there they became a single whole. There were also special "stove" rituals, for example, baking babies. It consisted in the fact that at birth, a weak baby was placed in a warm oven to save it from death. In fairy tales where Baba Yaga (a woman!) Appears, you can read about how she puts uninvited guests in the stove. In some regions, women's clothing and body parts had the same name with some stove details. For example, in Ryazan, the stove was called a breast, and in Karelia, this name was given to a stove bench installed near the stove.

It is clear that this is a kind of identification of feeding, feeding. The woman feeds the baby, the oven feeds the people. Childbirth often took place in the woman's corner. Various ceremonies performed on newborns and women in labor also involved the use of a stove. Baking bread symbolized conception and further birth. Like the woman, the oven bore and gave birth to bread. When a loaf was baked in it, it was strictly forbidden to sit on the stove. As during childbirth, the husband had no right to be near his wife, so by analogy, while baking bread, representatives of the stronger sex were forbidden to approach the oven.

There were also prohibitions related to funerals. Today they would seem strange to many.